Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the state takes on risk no matter what he decides to do while leading residents through the coronavirus pandemic.
DeWine, a Republican, was one of the first governors to adopt a statewide policy to stop the spread of the coronavirus, including being the first in the nation to close schools. Now, he has announced plans to reopen 90% of the state’s businesses at some capacity to help rebuild the economy. He told Fox News Sunday that there is a risk of people being harmed no matter what he decides to do.
“Well, it’s really a risk no matter what we do,” DeWine said. “It’s a risk if we don’t do anything. It’s a risk if we do this. What we have done is come up with the best practices for businesses to reopen. We put business people together with health people and have them come up with these best practices.”
“And Chris, the economy is not going to open no matter what we do, whatever we order, unless people have confidence, and we are trying to give them confidence,” he added. “But at the same time, we’re telling them the virus is still out there. It’s still very, very dangerous. We have to keep the distancing. People should wear masks, wash your hands. I mean, these are basic things that we have to do. We can’t let up.”
DeWine acknowledged that Ohio has not met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended criteria that it have 14 days of declining cases before reopening but noted that the state is in a good position in regards to testing and contact tracing. He said the state is in a plateau with the virus and must not ignore the economic fallout of remaining shut down.
“We are really at a plateau with hospitalizations. We are at a plateau with deaths. We are at a plateau in regard to new cases, so they do go up and down. We wish we were going down. We are not. We have been hit in Ohio, just like other states have been hit economically, so we’ve got to try to do two things at once, and it’s — you know, no one is underestimating how difficult this is, but it’s something that we have to do,” DeWine said.
